You all ever come across that one piece of media that just leaves you completely in awe of how awful it is? I’m sure we’ve all seen at least one movie or heard one song that we thought: “Nothing can top this – this is as bad as it gets.” Well, fear not, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve got something special for you today.

I’ve been on a massive Kraftwerk kick lately, so, for today’s article, I thought I’d share some of their tracks that I think are great for someone who’s not too familiar with the group to get their feet wet with. So, let’s dive right in!

Prior to today, I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about this week. My busy schedule paired with being sick has kept me from brainstorming any ideas for articles. This problem solved itself when I saw my breakfast.

Knowing that I was in for another busy day, my mother was sweet enough to get me a Tudors biscuit. As a matter of fact, it was an order of biscuits and gravy with a hash brown. While I was all sorts of grateful she was kind enough to do this, I was quickly reminded of my complete and utter hatred of Tudor’s Biscuit World.

Tudor’s is a staple in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. I have absolutely no earthly idea why. The line at Tudor’s in the mornings has been known to literally prevent the flow of traffic at my local location. It is mind-boggling why this happens. The is virtually always a 10+ minute long wait. Once you finally get to the menu to place your order, you can’t understand a word that the person speaking through the speaker says. Once you finally get to the window, you’re handed your food by a drive-thru worker who, in my personal experience, generally isn’t very nice. The disappointment only continues when you get home and prepare to eat the food. To my constant horror, my biscuits are literally ALWAYS burnt. I genuinely can not remember the last time I went to Tudor’s and they didn’t burn my biscuit. How difficult is it for a restaurant specializing in biscuits to properly prepare a biscuit? Literally the only redeeming qualities I can name about Tudor’s is that they have a rather good gravy which generally can make their burnt monstrosity of a biscuit palatable (depending on how burnt it is), and they also have very good coffee. I would be amiss if I weren’t to mention these two things as a sort of counter to my rant.

When I moved to this area approximately 12 years ago, I experienced Tudor’s for the first time. Given the hype, I was exciting. I left bitterly disappointed then. I leave there bitterly disappointed to this day. In my opinion, Tudor’s is hands down the most overrated eating establishment I have ever experienced.

Thanks for reading and please don’t flame me too hard for my hot take on Tudor’s. Be sure to check out the other great content from the guys at Mid-American Culture. I hope to be finished with Far Cry 5 next week to give a full review!

Far Cry 5 was the most excited I’ve been for a new video game since the release of Mafia 3 in 2016. Despite my excitement, I was skeptical. Mafia 2 was one of my favorite games of all time and Mafia 3’s attempt to follow it up had fallen horrendously short and left me immensely disappointed. Far Cry 5 is in an almost identical situation: following up one of my favorite games of all time (Far Cry 4) and facing great expectations from the gaming community. The setup could not be better for Far Cry 5 to be a failure as well.

With that being said, I do not consider Far Cry 5 to be a failure at this point. It does, however, have some noteworthy problems. At the time of writing this article, I am approximately 4 hours of play time into the game. I have encountered several bugs that forced me to either manually restart missions or led me to an inevitable death that forced me to restart at a prior checkpoint. I can’t even begin to explain how frustrating this is, especially considering my next gripe with the game. The combat is very very challenging. While I must point out that I am used to Fortnite combat, which is a far cry different than that of Far Cry 5 (pun intended). But regardless, I found myself dying far more than I ever should as early as I was into the game. Perhaps the combat will get easier as I become more familiar. I simply wouldn’t be honest in giving my initial thoughts of the game if I didn’t mention that. My only other significant complaint about the game thus far is that the open-world concept that the game employs may be a little too open world, if that makes any sort of sense. The missions are entirely spread out throughout the immense map as of this point, the game doesn’t feel linear in the slightest. I feel as if I could do these quests in any order and the game would make just as much sense as it does now. It is worth mentioning again that I am only around 4 hours into a campaign that is said to be able to last up to 25 hours, so the story may line up more as time progresses.

Now that my issues with the game are out of the way, I can talk about the good. First off, I absolutely love the game’s concept. The idea of fighting a right-wing religious cult in the heartland of America speaks to me on a subconscious level. This fresh concept paired with the current real-world political climate make the game that much more enthralling. In addition to this, I find the game’s main protagonists, the 4 members of the Seed family, to be utterly brilliant. Each has their own twisted, semi-psychotic characteristics. This makes them extremely easy to hate, a quality which they share with Far Cry 4’s protagonist Pagan Min. The story, elevated by these great protagonists, has potential to be fantastic if executed properly. I look forward to seeing if the campaign meets its full potential. Before I wrap up my favorite parts of the game, I feel like I have to mention the Pee Tape mission. Early on in my play-through, I encountered a certain familiar CIA agent from past games in the series who had been tasked with recovering a videotape that was said to be greatly embarrassing to the in-game President of the United States. The subtle innuendos and references to the so called “Pee Tape” which is rumored to contain video proof of Russian prostitutes urinating on President Donald Trump are absolutely hilarious. I was so glad the game included a real-world reference like this, especially given its parallel to our current political climate. I really enjoyed it.

Overall, I feel that the game has a lot of potential. With bug fixes certain to be coming in the form of updates and further plot development, it could really be something special. It may even have what it takes to beat out its predecessor. Once I finish the game, I will post a full review and give my final thoughts on it. This may come as early as next Wednesday, or as late as the following Wednesday. Regardless, you can rest assured that it is coming. In the meantime, check out some of the other great content put out by the Mid-American Culture crew. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next Wednesday.